


Nobody Picked The Family Business

by Annide



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Supernatural
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Family, M/M, Post-BtVS, Pre-Supernatural (TV), Sam-Centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-01
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-20 16:41:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3657651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annide/pseuds/Annide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sam doesn't get a scholarship to Stanford, John lets him go to UC Sunnydale, hoping all the stuff going on there will convince him to keep hunting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First half is pre-Supernatural / Buffy season 6
> 
> The main ship of this story is Sam/Dawn.

                John left them in a town called Sunnydale in mid August, right before the start of a new school year. Sam had spent the entire summer moping around, never even lifting a finger to help them on any hunt. He didn't want to hunt anymore, he wanted a normal life. He was just stuck now that he had graduated high school, because he couldn't get a scholarship to Stanford, or anywhere for that matter, due to the fact his file was missing stuff he could only have gotten if he'd stayed to the same school for more than two months at a time.

                By the end of summer, John got tired of Sam's sulking and decided to send him to UC Sunnydale so he could study and stop being such a pain in the ass. He'd made calculations and they could manage to afford it if both Sam and Dean got actual jobs on top of the usual pool scams and such. John had heard many things about Sunnydale. If the rumours were true, the boys would have hunts there all the time, hopefully it would convince Sam to get back into the life. Of course, he did not share any of this information with the boys.

                Dean wasn't exactly pleased to have to stay behind, but he loved his little brother and wanted to do whatever it took to make him happy, so he took a job as a mechanic. Sam enrolled at the university and got himself hired as help in the local high school's library. John didn't even stay to help them get settled. It saved him a conversation as a bunch of monsters came in town terrorizing everyone and ravaging properties barely a week after he dropped off the boys. Sam and Dean fought some all night, but there was always more. They'd never seen anything like it before. And then, all of a sudden, all the monsters fled town and everything went back to normal, or this town's equivalent of it anyway.

                The next morning, except for all the reparations going on, it was like nothing had happened at all. The brothers couldn't figure out what any of it was. All they learned from talking to some people was that those kind of things were pretty common in Sunnydale. So they started what would be their life for the next few months, both taken aback by this unexpected turn of events, wondering how John could've missed such a thing.

                Classes at the university didn't start until early September, so Sam spent his first weeks in Sunnydale familiarising himself with the high school's library where he would spend an important proportion of his free time. The term had just started and he wasn't surprised to find the librarian being the only one there.

                It was a woman of a certain age, but very nice and she took time to explain everything to him. Truth was, as she admitted to him, she was glad they'd found someone to be there in her place, allowing her to reduce her charge and slowly prepare for retirement. She told him she had stayed this long to help while they looked for a more permanent librarian, but time passed and no one seemed interested to even set foot in this town, especially after what happened to Sunnydale High, the former main high school in town. Sam's arrival was a great opportunity for her to set the wheels in motion for her departure, even if there was a chance he wouldn't stay more than a year or two.

                As expected, no student came into the library all week. Sam enjoyed the quietness and seized the opportunity to do some reading. Turned out the library wasn't a popular place for teenagers to hang out and there were rarely ever any students coming in. When he started having classes at the university, he still had Thursdays and Fridays off which he spent working, if you can call it that.

                It was mid-September when he finally had something other to do than checking out a few volumes. Fifteen minutes into the last period of the week, a young brunette came in and walked right to him, handing him a paper slip.

                "This says you were disturbing class and were sent here to study by yourself, is that right?"

                "That's what the paper says. Can I sit now?"

                "Sure, do what you have to do, Miss Summers."

                Sam had read the girl's name on the slip: Dawn Summers. "What a pretty name" he thought. She stayed there reading quietly from a book that didn't look anything like a school book and left as soon as the bell rang. Sam had a weird feeling this wouldn't be the last time he saw the mysterious girl.

 

* * *

 

                "Did you see the news?"

                Sam had barely opened the door that Dean was already dragging him in front of the tv.

                "What? What is so extraordinary about the news?"

                "Just watch."

                The news reporter was talking about a bank robbery over images of some kind of green monster attacking people right there in the lobby. Apparently, the camera had been broken as someone was thrown into the wall, but there were reports of a young woman fighting off the beast until it ran away. After this, the report moved on to other news like what had happened at the bank earlier wasn't that big a deal.

                "Looks like we aren't the only hunters in town. And I think we'll find plenty of cases in this place. This year won't be as boring as I thought it'd be."

                Dean looked pleased with this turn of events, but Sam had hoped to live a seemingly normal life for once and was annoyed to discover that he couldn't escape being a hunter.

 

* * *

 

                Sam and Dean still managed to get used to a life without disturbances for a while. When Halloween arrived, no more weird things had occurred in Sunnydale, that they knew of. Sam got home to the motel after classes with an idea in mind. He'd seen a flyer about a Halloween sale at the local magic shop and wanted to go check it out.

                "Come on, Dean, this place looks pretty legit. We can just go real fast, just to see if they have anything that could be useful on a hunt. Please?"

                "Alright, fine, we'll go, but only cause it's the first time you've shown interest in hunting in months."

                The Magic Box, as it was called, was crowded. They'd never have expected there to be this many people in that kind of place. It was crazy, but they did carry a good number of items John had mentioned having used on a hunt at some point. And books. There were tons of books. Sam browsed through some of the ones that weren't for sale, the owner's private collection, and they were amazing. Some had all kinds of information on monsters he'd never even heard of before, others contained various spells. Most clients seemed pretty unaware of it, but this place was definitely the real thing. Sam turned around to go find Dean again and ended up face to face, well more like chest to face considering how tall he was, with Dawn Summers, the teenager who'd been sent to his library as punishment for disturbing a class weeks earlier.

                "Hi, Dawn was it? Didn't expect to see you in a place like this, but I guess it's better to meet again here than if you'd been sent to the library by your teacher again."

                "Some friends of my sister own this shop, and none of them need to know I was thrown out of class, okay?"

                "Okay, don't worry, I won't mention it again."

                "Thanks. You're pretty cool for a librarian. And young."

                "I'm not actually a librarian, it's just a job to help pay for classes. I go to UC Sunnydale."

                "Really? My sister used to go there. Maybe you've met her friends, Willow and Tara, they're juniors there."

                "I haven't, but I'm only a freshman. I just moved here at the end of summer."

                "Oh, then welcome to Sunnydale. It might seem weird and scary at times, but you'll get used to it."

                "I noticed. I mean, I've seen a lot of weird and scary things before, but this place definitely tops it."

                "You have no idea."

                Dawn laughed and Sam realized he hadn't even introduced himself yet.

                "I'm Sam Winchester, by the way. And that tall scrawny guy over there by the sword, that's my big brother, Dean."

                "Nice to meet you, Sam. I think I hear someone calling my name, so I should probably go back to work now, but I hope we run into each other again soon."

                Dawn disappeared in the crowd before Sam had time to say anything more. He went to find his brother and they left the shop. They walked around for a while, amongst kids trick or treating and teenagers up to no good. Sunnydale on Halloween looked exactly like any other town. They did pass a house where an old man with what looked like a vampire bite on his neck was being rolled out, but something like this could happen anywhere.

                On their way back to the motel, the Winchesters found the body of a man in the middle of the street. The victim also had a bite mark on its neck. Still, even if the first victim was in his house and the second seemed like a random passerby, it was nothing they hadn't seen before. The unusual stuff came a little later, when they heard screaming and ran into the woods towards it.

                There was a whole group of vampires there and three people killing them. They seemed very skilled and completely used to this kind of things. Other hunters probably. One of them was a young woman who appeared unnaturally strong, some of the vampires even looked afraid of her, and the brothers couldn't help but observe her fighting instead of joining in and helping. They had never seen anything like it before.

                When it was all over, the brothers were left wondering where that blonde woman's strength could've come from and why they had never heard of those people. John knew many hunters and most traveled alone or in pairs. He often told the boys about remarkable things he heard about the whole hunting community and a group of at least three hunters working together would've definitely be something he'd mention.

                "You know, Sammy, I think I've seen that older man before, and that woman was definitely in the magic shop earlier, helping out and stuff."

                "That would mean they'd be friends of the owners. Like Dawn's sister. So this wouldn't be their first time here."

                "Dawn? Who's Dawn?"

                "Just a girl I met at work, she's a student there. She was at the Magic Box earlier, we talked a little and I got the feeling weird things, like this, our kind of things, are pretty common here."

                "Really? Well, if that's the case, there's no way dad didn't know about this. He wouldn't have left us in a town without doing a little research on it first."

                "He probably sent us here on purpose, so I wouldn't leave the life completely."

                "Don't get angry, Sammy. At least he let you do your school thing."

                Sam threw a look at Dean who just held it. They walked back to the motel and went to bed without another word.

 

* * *

 

                Things didn't get any less weird in Sunnydale. Sam and Dean went to breakfast one morning and everyone burst into song, out of nowhere, and they joined in uncontrollably. They couldn't do anything about it, they were just singing. And it happened again. Later, Sam had to bring materials from the library to math class and he ended up singing a song about the subject with the teacher and students, including Dawn whose sight made him feel embarrassed about the situation. Dean had some melodramatic song behind the garage in which he expressed feelings he'd never admit to anyone, but thankfully, he was alone.

                The brothers were baffled by this. It was the strangest thing they'd ever experienced before. They decided to go to the magic shop the next day to see if they could find a book or something that could help them figure it out. They entered just as a blonde woman was rocking a theory about bunnies being responsible for this. They shared a look, slightly weirded out, but they weren't the only ones as they learned by the expressions and lyrics of the other people around. The song ended with an inspirational part sung by another blonde that appeared to be the group's leader of sorts, the same woman they'd seen fighting vampires on Halloween. Then, the whole group went back to what looked a lot like research.

                "Sorry to interrupt, but we couldn't help overhearing this and looks like you're trying to figure out what's causing the singing. My brother and I are hunters, maybe we can help you fight this thing and you can tell us what the hell is going on in this town."

                Sam completely ignored the grin that grew on Dean's face when Sam referred to himself as a hunter.

                "Hunters? What is that?" The probable leader asked.

                "Hunters are people who go after monsters and kill them, like slayers except there's nothing supernatural about them, they don't possess particular abilities or anything. Most of the time, they're just people who lost someone to some kind of monster and got into that lifestyle of moving around fighting other creatures like the one who hurt them."

                The older man explained while cleaning his glasses. He then turned to the brothers.

                "You're the first hunters I've ever met, please sit. And welcome to Sunnydale. I'm Rupert Giles. Here are Willow Rosenberg and Tara Maclay, they're witches. Anya Jenkins, she helps me with the shop, Xander Harris, her fiancé and Buffy Summers, the slayer."

                "I'm Dean Winchester, this is my brother, Sam."

                "Summers, you must be Dawn's sister then. I met her a couple weeks ago, I work part-time at the high school's library."

                "Oh, you must be that tall yummy guy she keeps talking about!"

                "Anya! You're not supposed to repeat that." Xander called, exasperated. He then turned to the Winchesters. "Sorry, ex-demon, she has trouble with human things like that."

                "Ex-demon?" Dean asked.

                The brothers had never encountered demons before. With all they'd seen, they weren't exactly surprised those existed, mostly they were taken aback by the fact someone could've stopped being one, usually being an evil creature was a pretty permanent condition.

                "Yes, I was a vengeance demon. I helped women take revenge on men who betrayed and hurt them, but I was stripped of my powers and condemned to wither and die as a human, just like you ordinary people."

                Sam could hear a hint of nostalgia in Anya's voice, clearly she missed her powers. He understood though. If she'd been immortal, surely it must be hard for her to deal with her new found mortality, it couldn't be something you just accepted overnight, especially if she'd been alive a while, which she probably had been.

                They did research for the rest of the day and a good part of the next too. They found nothing. Then, in the evening, a blonde British man arrived with what he said was a minion of whatever was doing this to the town. The demon had Buffy's sister, Dawn. From the look on everyone's face, it seemed the teenager was often in trouble, but Sam was still worried. That thing must be pretty powerful to get an entire town singing and dancing into spontaneous combustion and he didn't want the girl to be hurt.

                Giles insisted Buffy go alone to fight the demon, and despite her not totally on board with this, she refused the help offered by the blonde man, Spike as they called him. It was clear there was something going on between them. Finally, Anya convinced Giles and the entire group joined Buffy at this local club.

                There, the Winchesters had a glimpse at what the lives of these people was like and why Buffy, the Slayer, some kind of hunter with more power, like being stronger and healing faster, a strong woman with a purpose, always seemed so distant from what was going on. Apparently, Buffy had died a couple months earlier, went to heaven and was then pulled out of it by her friends. Next to that, Sam and Dean's lives looked pretty nice. They may have lost their mother as kids and spent their life moving around the country, and John might not be the best of fathers, but these people here really had it hard. The brothers learned more about all that discussing with them after the fight was over.


	2. Chapter 2

                Over the next few weeks, nothing too big like singing and dancing over the entire town happened, so Sam concentrated on his studies and his job at the high school library. Dawn started hanging out there with him a lot. They found studying together was quite nice, though they worked on different subjects. Sam was able to help Dawn with stuff she had more trouble with and they both enjoyed being able to talk freely about their lives filled with fighting evil. He was really starting to like living in Sunnydale. He discovered a balance between a normal life and hunting, and made friends that he wouldn't have to say goodbye to after only a few weeks.

                Dean also seemed to get used to this life. He mentioned how nice he thought not having to move around all the time and actually develop lasting relationships with people was. He spent a lot of time working cases with the Scoobies, as they called themselves. Giles had left and they were happy to have a new person in the group. Dean often came back to the motel complaining about all the drama and missing their constant leaving a town before they had time to get into all this. However, Sam knew his brother loved getting to hang out with other people who did the same thing they did.

                "So, we're planning this birthday party for Buffy tomorrow, do you think you can come?" Dawn asked Sam one day at lunch.

                "Yeah, Dean told me about it, I think Xander invited him. Sounds fun."

                Dean and Xander had been spending a lot of time together lately. Apparently, Xander was really happy to finally have a guy friend about his age, but Dean was getting a bit annoyed at this. He enjoyed time alone and preferred hanging out with Buffy, who he had more in common with. Problem was, Buffy hadn't been around much lately, so Dean didn't have any excuse, like patrolling with her, not to hang out with Xander all the time. Sam had a laugh listening to his brother talk about how tired he was to hear about Xander and Anya's upcoming wedding.

                "It does. But, and I don't mean to scare you off, none of Buffy's birthdays have been ordinary since we moved to Sunnydale. Stuff always happens."

                "Really? Like what?"

                "My favourite is that time Giles was turned into a demon."

                "He was what?"

                "Turned into a demon! He was still himself and everything, except he looked nothing like a human and he could only talk in this weird language that only Spike understood. He scared everyone and they tried to kill him. I missed it all though and only heard about it, but it's a funny story."

                Sam laughed in agreement.

                "I have a scary one too. One birthday, Buffy slept with Angel and he reached a moment of true happiness and that made him lose his soul so he became the evil Angelus again and started attacking everyone. Also kinda funny when you think about it, I mean, when you didn't live it. I wasn't there either, and I'm also not supposed to know all the details of that, so if you could not tell Buffy about that, that'd be nice."

                "Sure. Who's Angel?"

                "He's Buffy's vampire high school boyfriend. He moved to LA, he's fighting crime over there now."

                "A vampire on our side, that's interesting."

                "Wait, you don't know about Spike?"

                "What about him?"

                "He's also a vampire. That's why he's not around much during the day."

                "I haven't spent much time with him, must be why I didn't really noticed."

                "Yeah, he hasn't been around much at night either lately, I wonder why, he used to always stay not too far from Buffy."

                "From what Dean told me, she hasn't been around much either."

                "She patrols a lot. Maybe she feels uncomfortable around everyone after, you know, we learned she was in heaven."

                "Yeah, maybe that's why Spike stays away, maybe he patrols with her instead of hanging out with you guys."

                "Maybe. He isn't exactly the most popular one around here and him and Buffy seem to have gotten closer since she got back. Not that I am very popular either, everyone always seems too busy to spend any time with me. I get the whole Slayer thing and all, it's just that while she's always doing that, fulfilling her purpose in life and all, I end up alone all the time. With mom gone, she's pretty much all I have left and we never get to really hang out."

                Dawn paused to take a breath and looked up at Sam.

                "I just feel kinda lonely sometimes, you know?"

                "Yeah, I see what you mean. When Dean was in high school, he used to go out with girls all the time and since our dad was always on a hunt, I was left alone in the motel room we used as our temporary home those weeks. And I couldn't make friends cause we never stayed anywhere long enough. What about you? How come you're always here with me instead of having lunch with your friends?"

                "All the crazy stuff happening to me makes it kinda hard to make any. I had Janice, but on Halloween we went out with boys who turned out to be vampires and she hasn't talked much to me since."

                "Apparently I was wrong, staying put doesn't make it easier to make friends with the life we have."

                They had to leave it at that as the bell rang and Dawn had to go back to class.

                When Sam and Dean arrived to Buffy's birthday party the next day, the house was already pretty crowded. Xander and Anya had invited a friend to set up with Buffy. Willow and Tara were awkwardly standing near each other. They had broken up a few weeks earlier because of a fight they'd had about Willow using magic too much. It was clear they were still in love with one another and Sam was hopeful that the progress the red-head had made by not doing any magic would help them get back together soon.

                Spike was also there, despite not having been invited, and he'd even brought along a demon named Clem. The vampire spent most of the night throwing passive-aggressive comments at Richard, the set up for Buffy. Everyone had fun and nobody even thought about leaving until morning. This is when they realized they couldn't leave, they were all trapped inside.

                Accusations flew in Dawn's direction. She did seem suspiciously glad that nobody could go away, but Sam knew it was because she was lonely, not because she had anything to do with it. The young girl ran away to her room, followed by most of the party. When they came back downstairs and started discussing the situation, Sam went up to join her.

                "Are you okay?" He asked as he closed her door behind him.

                "Do I look okay? Something's happening and, like usual, everyone is blaming me." She turned so her eyes could meet his. "I swear I didn't do anything."

                "I believe you. I know you've been feeling left out, but I also know you wouldn't do something like that."

                "Thanks, it's nice to know I have someone on my side for once."

                "That's what friends are for, isn't it?"

                "I guess, I'm not used to this."

                "Me neither. We'll figure it out together."

                They shared a smile and Sam thought how glad he was to have met this girl. They got along very well and he enjoyed their time together a lot. Dawn had been feeling down, with all that was going on. Her mother had died the year before, followed by Buffy, who had come back, but the teenager felt like her sister might've preferred to stay in heaven. Sam noticed she didn't smile that often, and should he really feel this happy that it happened most when they were only the both of them?

                "They all treat me like I'm still a little kid, you know? They won't see that I'm growing up and that I understand stuff. Buffy acts like I can't take care of myself at all sometimes, like she doesn't trust me. And she and her friends were fighting demons all the time at my age."

                "Yeah, my brother's the same. He keeps calling me Sammy, like I'm still his kid brother. As if he wasn't already hunting as a kid. Dad and Dean drag me into it all the time, but always treat me like I have to be protected and stuff. And I'm 18 now."

                "Oh, so I guess that's it for my hopes that it'll get better one day."

                "No, it will, but you'll always be Dawnie the little sister to them."

                Screaming and loud noises from a fight came to them through the closed door.

                "We better go see what's going on down there."

                Dawn nodded and they both rushed to the stairs. They had to stop to let Anya and Xander pass carrying Richard, who'd been hurt pretty badly. Sam and Dawn exchanged an alarmed look and hurried to join the others. They arrived in the kitchen just as Buffy was telling how she killed the demon that had attacked two nights before.

                "Where is it now?" Dawn asked.

                "Hiding in the walls." Dean replied. "Isn't that just perfect? We're all stuck in here with a demon who can appear anywhere at any time."

                Sam turned to Dawn.

                "I see what you were talking about now."

                "I told you, bad stuff always happens on Buffy's birthday." She smiled.

                Over the next few hours, it got scary inside the Summers house. Anya became terrified that she'd see Richard die right there in front of them, without being able to do anything about it at all. Her relatively new mortality hit her and made her more scared than anyone else. She even started yelling at Willow for not doing any magic to get them all out of there, but Tara took the other witch's defense. Sam and Dawn exchanged a smile, they were both hoping those two would get back together and it seemed this crappy situation could at least help with that. Buffy asked Dawn again if she had anything to do with the situation and they got into another fight.

                "You always blame me, but I didn't do anything. You are so unfair."

                "Fine then. Stay with Spike, he'll keep you safe."

                "I don't want to stay with Spike. Sam can keep me safe just as well."

                "As long as someone's with you."

                "Yeah, cause I'm just a helpless little kid, right?"

                Dawn didn't leave anytime for her sister to answer and stormed off to her room, Sam behind her. She was scared too of course, but even more she was angry at how they all treated her and upset that all everyone seemed to want was to get away from her, like usual. There was nothing Sam could do about any of that, and he didn't know what more he could say to make her feel better, so he simply sat next to her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. She leaned into the hug and let herself cry for a little while. They ended up falling asleep, both exhausted from all the drama and having spent the entire night playing monopoly.

                When Buffy woke them by clearing her throat, Dawn was lying on Sam's chest, wrapped in his arms, her face hidden in the nape of his neck. It took several seconds for them to remember where they were and what was going on. The sun had set and Buffy had to open the light so she could see them. She was patient enough to wait for them to get back to their senses before talking, but Sam could see she wasn't enthusiastic to have found them like this.

                "I was just coming to check on Dawn, but now I think I'd prefer if you both came back downstairs."

                "Why? We're not doing anything wrong." Dawn said, defensively.

                "I know, but I'd just be more comfortable having you near me, so I'm sure you're safe and not doing anything stupid."

                "Buffy!"

                Sam felt a little uncomfortable in this situation and didn't know what to do or say. It didn't matter though, because Anya stormed in and started going through Dawn's stuff, the others standing in the hallway asking her to calm down. The teenager yelled in protest, but it was too late. Anya overturned her jewellery box and all the stuff Dawn had stolen fell to the ground. As everyone came to understand what they were seeing, the young girl, upset, ran downstairs. Sam rose up to follow her, but Buffy stopped him.

                "I'll talk to her."

                And she left the room. The others started arguing. Anya was mad about all the stuff Dawn had stolen from the Magic Box. Xander, Willow and Tara tried to calm her down, saying she shouldn't be too hard on the girl; something was clearly going on with the teenager. However, Anya really liked money and wanted to make Dawn understand how important this was and how betrayed she felt right this instant. She made her way down the stairs with Xander, Willow and Tara behind her, trying to stop her, telling her to wait a bit while Buffy talked to her sister. Sam, Dean, Spike and Clem followed reluctantly, feeling somewhat out of place in this situation.

                In the end, it turned out Dawn had unknowingly formulated a wish to a vengeance demon, Halfrek. Anya, as her friend, summoned her and, though she didn't want to reverse the curse, she actually made a whole speech about Dawn being in pain and no one seeing it or caring about it, she had to in order to leave the house herself.

                Anya and Xander hurried outside carrying Richard who needed to see a doctor right away. Spike and Dean, not being really fond of crowds, went out next, happy to be free to go be by themselves again. Clem, Willow and Tara followed, though Willow lived there and would have to come back inside soon. While Buffy was looking at everyone leaving, breathing the fresh air, Sam kissed Dawn's forehead on his way out. She smiled at him and blushed in a very subtle way. Then Dean honked for him and he had to stop staring at her and just go.


	3. Chapter 3

                "So, Anya and Xander's wedding is coming up very soon and I was just, you know, wondering if maybe, only if you want to, if you could kinda be my date?"

                Dawn and Sam were sitting in the grass outside the school, having lunch. Sam had been doing most of the talking so far as Dawn was uncharacteristically quiet, and now he knew why.

                "I'd be honoured to be your date."

                "Really?"

                "Of course!"

                Dawn's face illuminated with the brightest smile he'd ever seen on her and he suddenly felt all fuzzy inside. Sam really was falling for this sixteen-year-old girl.

                They met at the house early in the afternoon. Dawn was wearing a bright green dress, which she, along with the other bridesmaids, hated. Sam thought she looked very pretty. He felt Buffy eyeing them from afar when he offered Dawn his arm.

                "My brother's waiting for us in the car. I hope it's okay, I don't have my own way to get there."

                "It's perfect. Maybe we could give a lift to Buffy too. She doesn't have a car either and," Dawn lowered her voice so her sister wouldn't hear the rest of that sentence, "this way her and Dean could talk together and not be on our backs all day."

                Sam smiled. "Yeah, it's a great idea."

                They waited for Buffy to be ready and got to the location of the wedding. There, Tara and Willow were already helping Anya get ready. Thinking it would get them a chance to talk, Buffy decided to see if Xander needed anything and brought along Dean in case a guy friend would be needed. This left Sam and Dawn to welcome guests. It was nice, Sam enjoyed spending the afternoon with her. They talked and laughed a lot about all sorts of things, but most of all people coming to the wedding. You would expect the demons to be the weirdest ones, but the Harris family was just as entertaining to watch.

                "You know, after all that happened so far this year, this wedding is very important to all of us. It's like the happy thing to help us deal with all the crappy stuff. I really need this to go well."

                "You're still feeling down, aren't you? You know I'm here, right? If you ever need to talk?"

                "Yeah, I know. I'm just still having trouble getting over the fact that Buffy was in heaven. I mean, after all she did, all the sacrifices she made to save lives, she deserved to be happy, she deserved to be in peace. I guess, I feel selfish sometimes for having wanted her back so bad. Why couldn't we just let her go? She was done, and Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya just pulled her back here, on the hellmouth, into all those terrible things. Why? Because we all couldn't accept her death. And they saw how sad I was and everything and... I just need more time to deal with this all."

                "It's okay. It's perfectly normal that you were sad about your sister being dead, and it's normal that you wanted her back. You can't blame yourself for any of this. They thought they were doing a good thing by bringing her back. And they were right. Think of all the lives Buffy saved since she's been back. And of course she deserved to be in heaven, but she will still go when it'll be her time again. None of you could've known where she'd be in death, from what I understand, she didn't exactly die a normal death, even for people like us."

                "But she's just seemed so miserable since coming back. I feel bad that she has to be in pain just for me not to have to live without her."

                "She's getting better. Dawn, don't worry about this, your sister just needs to adjust. And I know she's happy to be with you and all her friends again. She needs a little more time, that's all."

                "You're right, I know that, but I'll feel better when she's completely back to normal."

                Later, when Xander had disappeared and everyone was sitting inside, waiting for news while Buffy distracted them so no one would realize what was going on, Sam and Dawn went outside to get some fresh air. Dawn was talking about all kinds of stuff she liked. Sam listened intently, staring at her. She looked so beautiful even in this dress and she seemed so casual about the fact there was a room right there filled mostly with demons. It was completely normal, even amusing to her that Spike, a vampire, had brought a date to make Buffy, the vampire slayer, jealous. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

                Dawn was definitely feeling better than she had a few weeks ago. She was still kind of lonely and struggling with all the losses she'd lived, but she was a fighter, Sam could see it. She'd get through this and he'd see it and- did she stop talking just now? Was she really pulling on his tie? Oh, she definitely was. And now her lips were on his and he almost forgot to reciprocate the kiss, he was so taken aback.

 

* * *

 

                The first few weeks after Xander left Anya at the altar were weird. On the one side, they all felt bad for Anya, and they had confused feelings of anger and sympathy towards Xander. On the other end, Willow and Tara were back together, Sam and Dawn had started dating, so there were plenty reasons to be happy despite all the difficulties.

                At first, Buffy and Dean were really protective big siblings about Sam and Dawn being in a relationship, but as they all had known each other for a few months now, and had fought all kind of evil stuff together, they could see they were both good kids and were actually a pretty nice couple.

                Unfortunately, good times never seemed to last very long in Sunnydale and, as summer came close, tragedy hit. This Warren guy, who with the help of his friends had spent the year screwing with Buffy, from what Dawn told Sam, tried to kill Buffy by shooting her, but Tara was the one to get the deadly shot.

                Willow went dark and they had to try to stop her. Well, most of them anyway. after she killed Tara's murderer, the witch prepared to end the world. Dawn accompanied Xander to get Andrew, Warren's friend, somewhere safe. Dean stayed with Buffy, until he got knocked out and the slayer left to protect her sister and friend from a fire ball Willow had cast. By the time Sam was done writing his last final, Xander had managed to calm Willow and the youngest Winchester had missed all the action. Fortunately, he had a girlfriend who was keen on telling him the tale, including her badass fight, as she said, alongside Buffy.

                Dawn was pleased her big sister started treating her more like an adult and Sam, being done with his first year at UC Sunnydale, was now free to work more days at the high school library. In other words, they were both happy and now had way more time to spend together. Whether he worked that day or not, Sam always joined Dawn at lunch and they sat in the grass together. Sometimes he helped her with homework, sometimes they just kissed, sometimes they talked.

                It was a sunny June day. Dawn was between two finals exams. They were supposed to study for the one she had in the afternoon, but they'd been kissing ever since she arrived at their spot under a tree and their lunches laid barely touched on the ground. Dawn pulled back and looked Sam in the eyes. She seemed to hesitate for a second before she talked.

                "Sam, can I ask you something personal?"

            "Of course. You're my girlfriend, you can ask me anything."

            "Remember when you got here and Giles had to explain to everyone what hunters were?"

            "Yes." Sam was curious to know where this was going.

            "Well, I was wondering... Giles said most of you got started after they lost someone they cared about. Is that how you became a hunter? Did you lose someone?"

            "Yeah, my mom, when I was still a baby."

                Sam, by now, had no problem talking about his past. He was actually glad Dawn was interested enough to ask about it.

            "What happened?"

            "Something came into our house. It had my mom burn on the ceiling over my crib. My dad handed me over to my brother, who was four at the time, and asked him to get out of the house. He tried to save her, but he couldn't. After that, he started driving around the country, looking for answers and that's how he learned about hunters and everything."

            "So basically you were raised to be a hunter?"

            "Yeah. Sometimes I wish I didn't know anything about monsters and demons and everything, but we save lives doing this, and I wouldn't have met you if I hadn't been a hunter. I just wonder what having a normal life would be like. Just going to college, studying, doing a normal job, getting a family, you know, the usual."

            "I know what you mean. This kind of lifestyle really makes it hard to make friends that have no idea all those things exist. There's always this feeling that we're hiding something from them, and this fear that we'll drag them into this and get them hurt."

            "I'm so glad I have you to talk to about this."

            "Me too. I felt so alone and different before you came along."

                They went back to eating their lunches silently, exchanging smiles every once in a while. They ended up revising really fast before Dawn had to go to her exam. Sam walked her to her classroom and kissed her goodbye, leaving her with a promise to be there when she got out.

                Sam was happy in Sunnydale. He couldn't have dreamt of a better place to live. He was still hunting, but he was doing it with friends who understood how this whole thing felt and he got to pursue his studies too. He felt like he had found a nice balance and thought he could stay there, at least throughout college. That is, until he received a letter from Stanford. After a year spent in UC Sunnydale, he'd filled the requirements they'd asked for and was now granted a full scholarship.

                It was a hard decision, but in the end, Stanford was where he needed to go to get a proper law degree. This is what he'd wanted to do for a long time. And after all, it was still in California. He would be able to visit Dawn during breaks. He was even more sure of his choice after the fight he had over the phone with John when he'd call to tell him the news. Apparently, his father only approved of him doing the whole college thing as long as it was in a town full of monsters to hunt between classes.

                John came to pick up Dean about a week after he got the call about Stanford. Some yelling between Sam and his father was involved and Dean didn't particularly want to leave, but he did without protest anyway. The oldest Winchester son promised everyone he'd stay in contact with them, exchanged hugs with everyone, he even teared up when saying goodbye to Buffy, who he'd gotten close to again after Spike left a few weeks earlier. He was gonna miss having a friend who understood him there all the time. But as a loyal little soldier, Dean took back his place in the front seat of the impala.

                Sam didn't hear from them again. He knew Dean still called Buffy regularly though, because Dawn would mention it to him every once in a while, telling him whatever news her sister shared with her. His family was apparently doing a great deal of hunting and, according to Xander, Dean missed Sam a lot, no matter what the lack of calls made it look like. He was just hurt his little brother picked Stanford over his own family.

                The summer went by too fast and soon it was time for Sam to say goodbye. Dawn and him had already agreed on weekly calls and Buffy even said he was welcomed on their couch during all holidays. Xander drove him to the airport with Dawn. Sam shared a long kiss with her, promised to call as soon as he set foot in his dorm room and, after yet another last call message, got on the plane. He just had time to see Xander put his arm around Dawn before the door closed.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set post-Buffy in seasons 1 and 3 of Supernatural  
> I haven't read the Buffy comic books, so this story will not take those events into consideration.

**Three years later**

                "This is my girlfriend, Jessica."

                "What happened to Dawn?"

                Sam threw a look at his brother. How could Dean just drop by in the middle of the night and then ask about his ex right in front of his girlfriend like that? They hadn't talked in years, if they had Dean would've known exactly what happened. Right this moment, Sam felt a burning desire to just tell him about it, yell about the drama and throw in his face how he hadn't been there for his precious little brother when he needed him the most, but he didn't. He couldn't do this in front of Jessica.

                "We split up. About two years ago."

                "Oh, sorry. Anyway, nice to meet you, Jessica, but could you leave us alone for a minute, I need to talk to my brother in my private."

                Ten minutes later, Sam had agreed to go with Dean to look for their father, after making him promise he'd bring him back for his law school interview on Monday.

                "So, now that we're alone, will you tell me what happened between you and Dawn?"

                It was the next day. They'd been driving for a while without any of them saying anything.

                "Do you actually care or are you just trying to make conversation?"

                "Why wouldn't I care? You're my little brother."

                "I don't know, we haven't talked in years."

                "Don't try to blame this all on me. You didn't try to stay in contact much either. In fact, sounds to me like you cut contact with everybody, not just me and dad."

                "What do you mean?"

                "Buffy, Xander, Willow, even Giles, they all ask me about you. I understand you being mad at dad and maybe a little at me, but what have they done to you? Why don't they hear from you?"

                "I just... It's been hard, okay? After Dawn left, it felt weird still talking to Buffy. They've all moved around a lot and time passed and then it would've been awkward to call them after all this time. And- "

                "Wait, did you say 'after Dawn left'? When was Dawn ever at Stanford?"

                "She moved in with me after Sunnydale was destroyed. She needed a place to stay for a while. She ended up spending the summer, we broke up by the end of it and she left."

                "So that's where she went."

                "What?"

                "After we stopped the apocalypse there, we all got into a bus and went to LA. I saw her talk to Buffy apart from the group and the next day she was gone. I never knew where. Buffy looked awkward when I asked her and then dad and I left. All Xander knew was that Dawn was staying with a friend who wasn't in Sunnydale during that last apocalypse and it would be good for her to think about other stuff for a while."

                "You left too soon to get the info from Buffy, but you had time for Xander to tell you?"

                "Oh, Xander came with us. I was actually on a hunt with him when dad disappeared."

                "So, why did you need me for this? Couldn't Xander go look for dad with you?"

                "He only had a couple of days off for that hunt, he had to work this weekend."

                "Does he still work construction?"

                "Yeah, and he's doing pretty well. You should see his house. He actually built it himself, with a little help from me and dad between hunts, well mostly me."

                "So, you and him see each other pretty often then."

                "We do. We're practically best friends. He's been through rough times too. It wasn't easy for him after the wedding and then there was this apocalypse, he lost an eye, Anya died. And we did kinda make their hometown into a crater. And it's been nice having some place familiar to come back to between hunts."

                "You live with him?"

                "It's not like dad and I are there that often, but yeah, I guess we do."

                "I thought when you said dad hadn't been home in a few days, it was just cause Jess was there, but you actually have a home. Even more so than Bobby's ever been, it seems."

                "Some things have changed since you left, Sammy."

                Sam had hoped Dean would've given up calling him Sammy after all this time apart, but apparently old habits really do die hard.

                "Stop calling me that, Dean, I'm not a kid anymore."

                "I'll always call you that."

                They stayed silent for a while. Xander called at some point, just to check in, apparently he felt bad about not being able to help.

                "Don't worry about it, Xan. I got my little brother with me, remember Sam? ... ... Yeah, I managed to snatch him from his important and busy college student life for the weekend."

                A shorter nickname than the one used by others, a nickname only Dean would use, Sam recognised this. His big brother had done that kind of thing before with girls he liked. And the way Dean smiled at whatever Xander was saying, it was troubling. Not that troubling though, because Sam had noticed other things before, like his brother staring a little too long at guys.

                "So you two are good friends, ehn?"

                "I already told you that like five minutes ago. How do you even manage college with a memory that bad? Yes, we're very good friends."

                "And, did I ask about a girlfriend already? Do you have one?"

                "I don't get girlfriends, Sam, you know that. But I hook up with girls pretty regularly if that's what you're wondering."

                "And what about Xander, does he have a girlfriend?"

                "I don't think so, I mean I'm not around much, but I guess he would've mentioned it if he did. Why all those questions all of a sudden?"

                "No reason."

                Dean might not realise it yet, or maybe he just wasn't ready to admit it to himself, but for Sam it was clear: his brother liked guys just as much as girls. It was pretty obvious too. And the subtle tone in Dean's voice when answering the question about Xander having a girlfriend, yeah, he definitely liked Xander more than just as a friend. Too bad he wasn't quite to the point of getting in a relationship with another guy yet, but Sam hoped one day soon, his brother would accept this part of himself. He made a mental note to drop hints that he was totally okay with it whenever convenient.

**Another two years later**

                "I save the guy's life and he's mad at me."

                Dean and Buffy were sitting in the front seat of the impala. It had been hard between the brothers ever since Sam died and Dean made a deal with a demon to bring him back a few weeks earlier. Sam and Dean had gotten into a fight a few days ago and had decided to go on separate hunts this week to have time to cool off. Dean had ran into Buffy during a case and welcomed the company.

                "He just doesn't want to lose you. Dawn wasn't exactly happy that I was jumping in the portal in her place either. They want to live, but not if it means we don't get to."

                "That's still kind of ungrateful of them though. We sacrifice ourselves for them and they're still bitching."

                "That's what little siblings do. I think they just love us a lot. We're like their heroes or something."

                "I'm no one's hero."

                "Do you really think that, Dean? After all those lives you saved, all you did for Sam, you really think no one thinks highly of you?"

                "It's not like I'm anything special, there are hunters everywhere. I only helped prevent one apocalypse, how many has it been for you?"

                "It doesn't matter how many apocalypses you stop, but I'm sure you will have to do it again one day. What's really important is that you do the job. And you, Dean, give all you've got to it, you save lives and you never complain. That's impressive. You are way more dedicated to this than I ever was."

                "It's just who I am. I was raised to put the hunt before anything else, except for Sammy. He was always the most important thing, looking after him, protecting him. Why can't he understand? I only did what I had to do to save him."

                "I know, but all he can see now is that he's here and you won't be. Give him time. And why don't you let him try to save you for once? Maybe there is a way. If there's any chance that you could stay alive, I'd like to know you tried everything to find it."

                They stopped talking for a moment. They just stared outside and let the sound of the car surround them. The road was peaceful in the middle of the night. There were practically no cars and, out here, far from big cities, you could see the stars illuminate the sky. Dean had always loved driving at night. It was a perfect time to think. And after a few minutes of exactly that, Buffy took a deep breath and broke the silence.

                "It's not just Sam, I don't want to lose you either. No one does. Especially knowing you're going to spend eternity in hell. Hell, Dean, not exactly a picnic."

                "I know that, okay? But I made a deal and it can't be broken. So why can't all of you, Sam especially, just let it go and make this last year count? Cause if I'm sure of one thing, it's that when I'll be gone burning in hell, you will all regret spending the year trying to get me out of that deal instead of making some great last memories. Please, can we just enjoy the time we have and stop obsessing over a solution that doesn't exist?"

                "Is that what you would've done if you'd known about your father's deal?"

                "It's not the same. My dad only got a few minutes before getting sent down to hell. I've got an entire year."

                "The point I'm trying to make is that you would've tried everything to keep your dad alive, just like your brother is doing for you right now. The difference is that Sam has time, and he can either spend it trying to save you, or starting to grieve about your imminent death. Just enjoying your last moments simply isn't an option. He can't forget what's gonna happen to you, what it cost for him to be here with you."

                "Okay, you're right, I'm wrong, can we change subject now?"

                "As long as you admitted your mistake, we can talk about something else. Like whether you're planning on staying with us for a while? You could call Sam and ask him to meet you there."

                "Sounds like a great idea. I haven't seen Spike in a long time."

 

* * *

 

                When Sam got to the Summers' new house not long after sunset, he expected to find Dean and Buffy sitting on the porch steps, drinking beer, and he did. He expected to see Spike leaning against the banister, drinking blood from a cup as if they weren't in the front yard where everyone could see him, and he did. But Sam hadn't expected Dawn to be there, sitting behind Dean and Buffy, her back to the wall. They hadn't talked in four years. They simply hadn't run into each other.

                For the first few months after they'd broken up, Dawn had traveled around the world with Andrew and Buffy, fighting all kinds of evil stuff. Then Spike had showed up to reveal he'd only been dead for a few weeks and had actually spent the year following the apocalypse with Angel. Buffy had been mad at first, really mad, but it didn't last long and the two of them started a relationship again, a serious one this time. This lead to their buying this small house in a town near Los Angeles, because traveling across the ocean with a vampire isn't that easy. After this, Dawn didn't want to keep moving around the world either, so she moved to college, as she'd been taking classes by correspondence the entire year, taking some advance by both finishing high school and starting college. Since she now went to NYU, she was never around when Sam came to visit Buffy with Dean during the past two years.

                "Dawn, hi."

                Dawn looked up from her laptop.

                "Sam. It's been so long!"

                She was smiling and Sam smiled back. It was good to see her again. He hadn't realised how much he'd missed her.

                "Hi to you too, Sam, nice of you to acknowledge everyone's presence."

                "Oh, sorry. Hi Spike, Buffy, Dean." His eyes went back to Dawn. "How've you been?"

                "Oh great, I sacrificed myself to save the world, came back to life, got a serious girlfriend, the usual."

                "Spike, I think my brother was really asking Dawn."

                "Oh yeah, of course, who cares about the exciting life of a vampire? It's nothing compared to the one of a woman who spent the last three years strictly studying, not even traveling at the same like her first one, fascinating."

                "Shut up, Spike." Dawn said as she put her laptop down and walked up to Sam. "Do you want to go have coffee and catch up?"

                "I'd love that."

 

* * *

 

                Sam and Dawn went to a small coffee shop not far from the house. It was crowded at this hour, but they still managed to find a table.

                "I missed that, hanging out with you, talking about stuff. I really missed it."

                "I missed it too. You know, Dawn, I have a lot going on right now, with my brother's deal and all, but we should really stay in contact. We could meet up whenever we're close by or something."

                "Definitely. Oh, I'm traveling to England next month, graduation gift from the gang, I'll ask Giles if he knows anything that could help save your brother."

                "Thanks, I appreciate it. Sorry, I missed your graduation, I didn't even get you a gift."

                "I heard you died, I think that's a pretty good excuse."

                "I was only dead for a few hours though."

                "Buffy was only dead a few minutes the first time, still counts as dying."

                "Okay then. What are you doing now that you're a college graduate? Do you have a job or something?"

                "No, I took the summer off and now I'll just go back to fighting evil. Maybe we'll run into each other sometimes. I just feel like I'll do more good as a hunter than I would working, you know? But it's nice knowing I have the option, I might want to settle down someday."

                "I actually wish I could quit being a hunter and lead a normal life now, but it's not that easy."

                "You haven't changed at all, have you? I mean, yes, you're older and stronger and all that, but you still want the same things."

                Talking with Dawn felt natural to Sam, as if they'd never stopped seeing each other. They stayed at the coffee shop until closing, then walked around for a while. The sun was beginning to rise when they finally made it back to the house. Spike was already in bed, down in the basement, but Buffy and Dean were telling each other stories of their kills and couldn't seem to stop laughing. Sam smiled at the sight, it felt nice to see his brother genuinely happy.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Set end of s4 and s5 of Supernatural

**Two more years later**

The screams coming from the bunker were incessant. Dean kept drinking, surely trying to drown the noise and pain in alcohol. Dawn couldn't stand this sound. She wasn't one who drank much though, so she opted for distance and fresh air. Dean was pouring himself another glass, tears in his eyes, when she closed the door behind her.

                She walked around between all those cars, trying to clear her mind, forcing herself to remember that this was the right thing to do. Sam was drinking demon blood. This couldn't be right. Even the angels disapproved of this. And yet, Dawn couldn't help thinking he was saving lives. Though everyone could also exorcise demons and not have to kill the meat suit, as long as they were in a demon trap. But she couldn't quite get rid of the idea that maybe Sam could stop Lilith, maybe he was their only chance. And they were destroying it, by submitting him to an intense detox, which had the potential to kill him.

                Dawn missed the years when everything was simple. Now there were those demons of black smoke with the power of possessing innocents. There were angels who turned out to be a huge disappointment. And there was Sam with his powers that would be useful, but required to drink demon blood, without mentioning how he put his trust in this Ruby. Dawn agreed with Dean on that one, they couldn't trust her, she had to have a hidden agenda.

                Dawn was sitting on the trunk of the impala when Bobby found her. He leaned to put his weight on the car as well and put a hand on hers in a fatherly way, just as Giles would do. It was amazing to see how those two childless men had become such important father figures for all of them whose real fathers weren't so great.

                "I know it's hard right now, Sam is in a real bad place. That demon really took advantage of his grief last summer. But he'll get through it. I've known those boys a long time and they're both fighters. Sam's strong. He'll pull through, you'll see. We won't get rid of him that easy."

                Dawn gave him a weak smile.

                "I hope you're right and he does get better. I hear those screams and it pulls at my heart. I should've been there for him. I feel like I abandoned him. His big brother went to hell and I wasn't there to help him through it. And I know how it feels. I've been through something very similar when I was only a teenager. I could've helped him, I could've brought him comfort or something. But instead he had to turn to this Ruby, and what was I doing? Not being the friend he needed me to be."

                "You can't blame yourself for any of this. You and Dean keep thinking this is your fault and you could've done something, but things are never so simple."

                "I can't help it. I hurt and I feel useless. I feel like I should be doing something to help, but I can't figure out what."

                "Of course you do. You care about him."

                Bobby pulled Dawn into a hug that both of them needed. He found it a nice change of pace to have her around. She was much more open with her feelings than the boys ever were, especially Dean. Bobby knew both Dean and Dawn felt the same about the situation, but he wasn't expecting him to say it out loud.

                "If you don't mind me asking," Bobby said after a moment, "why did you two ever break up? Sounds to me like you still love him. And he cares a lot about you too. He's messed up right now, but I know he does."

                "I'd just helped stop an apocalypse, my town was destroyed. Sam had finished his first year at Stanford, he enjoyed his new normal life. He didn't want anything to do with his family, or with all of this. But family and friends were all I had left and my part in fighting evil had just started. I didn't want to let go of any of it and that's all he wanted. We tried to make it work for a whole summer, but in the end, we wanted completely different things, we were at points in our lives that didn't fit together. We couldn't be happy together anymore, we had no other choice than to go our own ways. So I left."

                "Oh, I see. That's unfortunate."

                "Very touching story. While you two were having this nice chick-flick moment, did you notice a really tall guy walking away? No? That's great, cause Sam's not in the bunker anymore."

                Dean was pissed. He didn't even wait for their reaction. He grabbed their hands and pulled them down of the impala.

                "I'm gonna need my car to go find my brother. I can't believe three of us can't guard one guy locked in demon-warded room."

                Bobby and Dawn shared a look. How could Sam even get out of the bunker? Dean was gone before they could even discuss it.

 

* * *

 

                Sam had broken the last seal. Lucifer was out. Bobby had lost the use of his legs. He was sitting in a wheelchair, looking out the window, saying nothing. Dawn had convinced Sam and Dean to stop standing in the hallway and sit inside the room only minutes earlier. Buffy, who'd arrived the night before, was leaning on the wall by the door. She'd tried telling the story of Xander losing his eye during the last apocalypse, but it didn't help.

                Sam's phone rang, he answered and said where they were, before getting hung up on. Sam and Dean exchanged a look, but were interrupted before they had time to say a word.

                "Ow! Who the bloody hell are you?"

                A burning smell accompanied Spike's complaint as Castiel walked through the door.

                "Cas. What happened out there?" Dean asked as he rose to meet the angel.

                "The vampire put his hand on my shoulder to stop me from getting in. He burned himself."

                "What?"

                "Well, if vampires can't touch crosses or holy water," Buffy explained, "my guess is angels fall under the same category."

                "How did you even know that's an angel?" Spike asked, still holding his hand in pain.

                "Dean mentioned an angel named Castiel and you hurt yourself touching someone Dean referred to as Cas, it's not that hard to figure out."

                "Anyway," Dean turned to Castiel, "since when do you need a cell phone, Cas?"

                "You are hidden from all angels, it was the only way for me to find you."

                "Okay, and what did you want?"

                "Yes, I... who are these people? Is it safe to talk in front of them?"

                "Yeah, Cas, they're friends. Here's Buffy, her little sister Dawn, and that vamp out there is Spike."

                "A vampire with a soul, this is very unusual."

                "Yeah yeah, the bloodsucker has a soul, very interesting, now will you get over here and heal me?"

                Those were the first words Bobby had said since learning about his legs. Everyone looked to Castiel, hopeful.

                "I can't, I'm sorry. I rebelled and got cut out of heaven, there are some things I can't do anymore."

                Bobby turned back to the window and Dean asked again why Castiel had come. Some talking about god and lots of closeness and staring followed between Dean and Castiel, but Dawn didn't pay much attention. She looked at Bobby, feeling sympathy for him.

                After Castiel had gone, Bobby received a call from a friend who needed help in Colorado. As it sounded serious, Dawn decided to go with the brothers. Buffy wanted to accompany them as well, but Spike protested about them abandoning him there and Bobby said something about not wanting to be left alone with the vampire all day, so she stayed to keep Bobby company.

 

* * *

 

                Sam and Dean had decided to go their own way for a while. Sam felt he needed a break from hunting, so when they got back from helping Rufus, Ellen and Jo, he left. Dean gave a ride to Dawn back to Buffy and went on to hunt alone. Of course, the Summers offered to go with him, but he preferred it this way. And it turned out well too. Castiel showed up and they went after Raphael, the archangel. They had a lot of fun.

                After Castiel disappeared from the car, without a word like always, Dean knew where he needed to go next. He had been thinking about it for a while, but now was the time. His brother wasn't with him, he still couldn't stop thinking about it, and Jimmy Novak was gone. Cas was alone in his vessel ever since Raphael had killed him.

                Dean had driven all night long, slept his four hours, kept driving and was now sitting in Willow's living room, waiting for her to come back with some coffee.

                "It's small, I know, but it's only me at the moment."

                "Yeah, I get that. Listen, Willow, before Tara, you had a boyfriend, right, the werewolf?"

                "Oz, yes." She answered, looking curious about where this was going.

                "And you'd always thought you were straight, right? So how did you realise you were actually gay?"

                "I don't know, I just felt something for Tara. It was weird, I had never felt like this for a girl before. But it felt right and it just sort of happened. Why are you asking me this all of a sudden?"

                "There's this guy, an angel. You should meet him, he's adorable. Yesterday, we worked on something together, he showed his fake FBI badge upside down, I mean..."

                Willow had never seen Dean smile like this before, in a way that showed how happy he was and how much he liked this guy, it made her smile too.

                "Willow, I think I might be in love with an angel."

                "Yes, and it shows. I'm so happy for you!"

                "You don't understand, he's a guy. I've never liked a guy before. Okay, maybe a little, once, but not like this. I'm a woman guy, I love women, not men."

                "You can like both, you know?"

                "But everyone thinks I'm... My brother, he won't understand."

                "He will. He loves you no matter what. Plus, I'm pretty sure he suspects it."

                Her face just screamed she knew, there was something she wasn't saying.

                "How would you know?"

                "I just do. I'm a girl, we're good with this kind of thing."

                "You're kind of a bad liar, you know that? Spill."

                "Okay, he may have mentioned his suspicions to me a few years ago. And maybe he said something about how you haven't been with a lot of girls since you've been back from hell and how he thought it was just, you know, a just got back from hell thing. Until he started noticing things, like how you and this Castiel are around each other. I think he started paying more attention to it after you told him about a conversation you had with another angel who said Cas liked you and it was a weakness. I really don't know much."

                "Not much? Dammit, Willow! How long has it been?"

                "How long what?"

                "Since Sam first talked to you about this. How long?"

                "Is that really important? I mean, you took your time getting here, figuring it out, feeling comfortable enough with it to share."

                "How long?"

                "Three or four years. I think he suspected it right the first weekend you went looking for your dad, but then his girlfriend died and he stopped thinking about it until a few months later and then he called me."

                "What? How could he have known all this time?"

                "Sometimes people see stuff that we won't admit about ourselves yet, Dean."

                Dean couldn't believe what he was hearing. His brother had figured it all out before he did himself, incredible. He talked with Willow some more, but it was getting late and he didn't want to stay the night. They hugged and Dean left to go find a place to spend the night.

                He was pleased to hear Castiel's voice when he answered his phone, just as he was getting settled in his hotel room. Dean wanted to see the angel and talk to him as much as he did, but, being human, he needed some sleep. Unfortunately, between Sam calling to say he was Lucifer's true vessel and Zachariah sending him on a trip five years into the future, he didn't get much rest at all. Though he didn't mind once he appeared next to Cas, who's perfect timing made Dean smile because it seemed he'd finally found someone he could count on.

 

* * *

 

                After Dean had apparently seen what was ahead if he didn't patch things up with his brother, he and Sam had gone back to hunting together. They'd managed to track down the colt, that gun who could kill anything, and now had a location on Lucifer. Now a plan was laid out and everyone was hanging out at Bobby's, waiting until morning to go kill the devil.

                Castiel was sitting at the table with Ellen, Jo and Spike. The women got the angel to drink alcohol for the first time and enjoyed the sight. Spike, on the other hand, didn't appreciate how friendly Cas had gotten after a few drinks, putting his arm around the vampire and burning him in the process.

                Dean and Buffy were watching from beside the fridge, smiling. Bobby and Xander were in some kind of deep discussion at the desk, and Sam and Dawn were sitting outside on the porch steps, the door left open behind them.

                "It's gonna sound weird, but I kinda missed this."

                Dawn was looking in the distance and Sam turned to look at her after she spoke.

                "Missed what?"

                "Everyone being there, working out a plan, hanging out like it's the last night we'll ever live. Apocalypses don't only have bad sides. Mostly they're bad, but they do bring us all together."

                "It's still the apocalypse. Anya died during the last one. Your entire town was destroyed. We're going after Lucifer tomorrow. Chances are we will die this time."

                "Not you. You're his vessel. If we fail, Lucifer will still want you alive. And then you and Bobby will call the others, like Willow, Faith, Angel, the slayers, and figure out a new plan."

                "But most of my friends will be dead. Dean won't be there. You won't be there. How could you've missed this? Aren't you scared?"

                "Of course I'm scared, Sam. But this isn't my first apocalypse and we've always gotten through it. We can't think about what's gonna happen to us. We just have to believe in ourselves and fight our best."

                Sam put his arm around Dawn, she let her head fall on his shoulder and they stayed silent, looking at the sky, listening at the others laughing inside, just enjoying themselves, hopefully not for the last time.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm a little late with this last update.
> 
> Set in seasons 5,6,8 of Supernatural and post both series. There aren't any spoilers for the latest SPN episodes, though there is a reference to Angel Heart, but it's pretty minor so you'll be okay even if you haven't seen that far yet.

                Killing Lucifer hadn't worked. The colt had hurt him for a few seconds and that's all. Even worse, they lost Jo and Ellen in the process. The Winchesters tried to go on like usual after that, but when Valentine's Day came and his brother showed no interest to go out to a bar to find someone desperate to spend the night with, Sam worried.

                Buffy, Dawn and Spike were there the next day. They joined them at the coroner's office where the boys were inspecting the organs of the latest victims on their case, an ordinary murder suicide, which wouldn't be of interest to Sam and Dean if it wasn't for the couple who'd eaten each other just the night before.

                "What are you all doing here?" Dean asked.

                "Sam called us. He thought you needed some cheering up and what better than old friends keeping you company on a hunt for that?"

                Buffy explained as she sat next to him.

                "Well then," Dean pushed the box with one of the hearts in her direction. "Since you're here, be my Valentine?"

                Sam and Dawn made a face showing they were done with Dean's stupid jokes. Buffy laughed and Spike took the heart away.

                "She's mine, alright? Your jokes aren't funny, Winchester."

                "Oh no." Sam exclaimed, bringing this playful mood to an end.

                "What?"

                "There's a mark on this heart. Looks like some kind of letter."

                "This one's got that too. Wonder what that means." Spike said, putting the heart he was holding next to Sam's.

                "I think it's enochian."

                "Enochian? You think angels might have something to do with this?"

                Dean didn't wait for an answer. He took his phone out of his pocket and dialed. He wasn't even done saying where they were that Castiel had already appeared in front of him.

                "Oh bloody hell, you've got to be joking. Does he always have to be around here?"

                "Do you, vampire?"

                "Well at least I've got a soul, and I don't burn anyone by simple touch."

                "Are you two done, already? We need Cas here to tell us about that symbol. Just don't touch him, Spike."

                Dean showed the hearts to Castiel who declared those were the marks of a cupid.

                "A cupid? Aren't they supposed to make people fall in love and be romantic and all? Why would they kill people?"

                "I don't know, Dawn, we will have to find this cupid and ask."

                That same night, they all went to eat at some restaurant, popular among couples, in the hopes of catching the cupid. There was of course no need for them all to be there, as Castiel was actually the only one able to see and force the cherub to talk to them, but Sam and Buffy thought a night out would be good for everyone.

                Obviously, it didn't go as well as they'd thought. Dean was weirdly not hungry. Even weirder, Cas was and took the food Dean wouldn't eat. Spike suddenly found difficult to control his thirst for blood. Sam seemed irritated every time the vampire said the word blood, which was a lot. Dawn hit the table and raised her voice whenever people's attention turned somewhere other than herself. Buffy spent the entire dinner trying to get them all to focus.

                They still somehow managed to catch the cupid, who awkwardly hugged them all. Well, he tried at least, but after Spike bit his neck to drink his blood despite the contact burning him, the cherub stopped with the hugging. He cried at the accusation that he was killing people and, after Castiel read his mind, they knew he wasn't responsible for all those weird deaths.

                They finally figured the whole strange thing the next day, after a man died from eating an enormous amount of twinkies.

                "What's that?"

                Dean asked after they opened a briefcase Sam had taken from a demon outside the morgue and a bright light came out of it.

                "Bloody hell, that's a soul. Mine looked just like it when I got it back."

                "That makes no sense, Spike. Why would a demon carry a soul in a briefcase?"

                "He's right, Dean. And I think I know what's going on in this town now."

                Castiel explained how his new found hunger, Spike and Sam's suddenly barely controllable thirst for blood and Dawn's intense craving for attention could all be the work of Famine, one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

                They elaborated a plan. It was a good plan, but things went a little differently. They had to tie up Sam and Spike in their motel rooms. At first they wanted to put them in the same one so they could talk, but it seemed unwise to cuff a human so close to a hungry vampire.

                The plan was to have Castiel go in and steal the horseman's ring to render him powerless. When he didn't come back after a few seconds, they decided to go in. They got caught after Dawn started yelling because no one was paying her any attention, which was exactly what they were trying to do, not have anyone notice them.

                They were brought into the main restaurant room, where Famine was sitting in a wheelchair. Castiel was on the floor eating ground beef, completely useless to them right now. Buffy tried to fight the demons that were holding them, yelling to Dean and Dawn things to do, sometimes with accompanying comments of how useless they were and how she had to do everything herself again. She'd become more and more of a control freak these past few days and Dean was only realizing now that it might be her thing and that she wasn't immune to Famine's powers like he seemed to be.

                However, Dean being immune to this wasn't entirely a good thing. He wanted nothing, craved nothing at all. Famine explained him why. There was just this hole inside of him that nothing could ever fill. Never had Dean's depressive state been more obvious than now and he didn't know what to do. How was he supposed to beat the horseman when he had no desire to keep fighting?

                Then Sam showed up. All powered up in demon blood, he exorcised the demons present. And when Famine ate their black souls, Sam did his trick on him and it was all over. Everyone went back to their normal selves. They had won.

                A little later, Sam and Dawn were sitting outside the motel while the others were packing up.

                "I guess now I know I haven't been worrying about my brother for no reason."

                "I was still hoping we were all wrong about him. At least, he has you to keep an eye on him."

                "Yeah, as soon as I detox from the demon blood."

                "Oh right, I forgot about that."

                "Yeah, well, I guess Dean, Cas and I are gonna pay a visit to Bobby's now that this is over."

                "You know what, I'll go too, if it's okay with you. I want to be there for you this time."

                "You don't have to do that."

                "But I want to. I really care about you and maybe if I stayed with you during detox, it would make it a little less terrible. I mean, if you think so too, I'm not insinuating that I know anything about this or-"

                Sam kissed her. He just felt so much love for this woman. He couldn't believe they'd ever stopped being together. She made him so happy and she was such a great person. Now that he was embracing life as a hunter, or more accurately making peace with the fact that he could never really get away from it, maybe they had a chance, maybe they could make it work. And her hand slipping in his hair as the kiss kept going told him that she might want the same thing.

 

* * *

 

                The apocalypse had been stopped. Sam had spent a few months without a soul as a consequence, but they had saved the world. Something weird was going on with Cas and Dean regularly worried about his boyfriend of a few months now, but this day wasn't a day for worrying. The weather was fantastic, the sun was shining, birds were singing, everything was perfect. Dean turned to look at his brother. Sam had been a nervous wreck all day, but when Dawn appeared at the end of the aisle, he suddenly calmed and happiness overcame him.

                Dean's eyes swept the room. Buffy was still walking towards them, a proud smile on her face. Castiel was on Sam's other side, right at the end of the aisle, a little shaky, which was understandable as he had never married people before and he didn't want to ruin this for Sam and Dawn. Bobby was sitting in the front row with Xander, Willow and Faith. Angel and Spike were standing in the doorway of the reception hall a few feet away, unable to sit in the sun with the rest of the crowd.

                Giles was walking Dawn down the aisle. She was wearing the brightest smile she'd ever made. Her white dress was beautiful of course, but how could you look at it when pure happiness illuminated her face? Dean and Buffy exchanged a teary-eyed look. After all their little siblings had been through, seeing them finally happy felt like a dream come true.

 

* * *

 

                "Cleveland, Sam? Why the hell did you buy a house in Cleveland?"

                It was the first time Dean and Cas visited Sam and Dawn in their new house.

                "Don't you remember? After we stopped the apocalypse and closed the hellmouth in Sunnydale for good, Giles said there was another one in Cleveland."

                Dawn was sitting in a rocker chair on the porch, absently caressing her belly.

                "Oh well, of course, then I understand. A hellmouth is a perfect place to start a family. Very safe, very peaceful, nothing ever happens. Why ever would you want to live anywhere else?"

                "We're hunters, Dean. I've tried to quit the life before and it never worked. Things always bring us back into it. Living on the hellmouth is actually perfect. We can stay in one place, raise our child, protect the people who live here and keep an eye out in case anyone or anything wanted to open it, like it happened several times in Sunnydale according to Buffy."

                Sam had walked down the steps to meet them. He gave Cas a big hug as he hadn't seen him in months. The angel had finally gotten back from purgatory a few weeks earlier, but he and Dean needed some time to adjust. The hunter had felt terrible coming back without his boyfriend before, even if he knew it wasn't his fault.

                "Living here is a perfect way to keep saving people from stuff they don't even know exists like we like to do, but without our future children having to suffer from a hunter's lifestyle."

                "It does seem perfect. But if you ever needed help, you can always call us. I'm an angel, I can get us here really fast."

                "We'll be sure to do that, Cas."

                "And that's not just for emergencies, Sam. You better call me the minute Dawn goes into labour so we can come meet our little niece or nephew right away."

                "Buffy already requested to be our first call, but you'll be next, I promise. You'll have to be patient though, this one's not quite ready to come out yet."

 

* * *

 

                "So, Sam, how does it feel to finally be a lawyer, just like you wanted?"

                Charlie was sitting across from him. She had been talking with Willow ever since she got there. The two of them had clicked instantly. Well, what else would you expect from a former computer nerd turned witch and a current hacker who grew up reading stories about magic. Sam knew they'd be great friends if they only managed to get them both to visit at the same time.

                "It's great actually. I feel like I have everything I ever wanted. I have a house in a place that allows me to lead a practically normal life, but still with the occasional hunt. I have someone I love more than anything who loves me back, a great kid, awesome friends and now the career I worked so hard for. I couldn't ask for anything more."

                They were having a celebration in honour of Sam getting his law degree. It was a perfect pretext to get all of their friends together in Cleveland for the first time. The rain forced them to be all cramped inside the small house, but it didn't stop them from having a great time.

                Charlie and Willow went back to talking about magic, the latter actually retelling the story of how she gave the power of the slayer to all the potentials. Jody and Castiel moved closer to hear all about it. Angel and Faith were arguing with Spike, nothing unusual there. Dean was discussing his and Castiel's wedding plans with Xander and Buffy. Claire and Alex were enjoying being reunited for the first time since the blonde moved into the bunker with Cas and Dean. The girls were outside, dancing in the rain with the toddler, Joyce-Mary.

                Sam and Dawn smiled at the sight of their daughter slipping in the grass, caught last minute by her adoptive cousin. They had made it. They had found a good balance between fighting monsters and living a normal life. They shared a kiss, full of the love and happiness that filled their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this story!


End file.
